Friday, May 6, 2011

5th Grade Graffiti Murals

Save Wild Life; Aaron J., Olivia S., John W., Kailey J.

Before finishing her time with us, student teacher Miss Marin Ryan had the idea for these artworks that ended up being so successful! The mural concept also worked well as a way for me to utilize collaborative learning groups (one of Marzano's teaching strategies that we've been encouraged to use this year) in my classroom. I have never had students create artworks in groups before, but would do it again because it was such an exciting experience and the kids made such cool work.

To start, we looked at lots of graffiti by Banksy, and also looked at lots of photos of graffiti around the Akron area. The students really seemed to enjoy discussing whether or not the graffiti could be considered art and whether the people who create graffiti are artists or not. I then assigned students to groups of 3 or 4 and assigned them specific jobs within their groups. The jobs were: Note Keeper, Supplies Manager, Reporter, and Encourager.

Once settled into their groups and roles, each group came up with an agreed upon topic or issue to work with. Then they designed and created at least two stencils to use on their murals (4'6" x 2'6" kraft paper). After all the planning was complete, groups used watered down tempera paint in spray bottles, regular tempera, sponges, brushes, and Slick Stix to share their messages.